The overconsumption of sodium chloride has been blamed for a wide range of human ailments including high blood pressure, coronary disease and heart attacks. Indeed, medical research has shown that a reduction in the amount of sodium salt intake can be accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the blood pressure of hypertensive patients. Thus, great emphasis has been placed on low "salt" diets in which most, if not all, the sources of sodium chloride salt are eliminated. Many products abound in which the major constituent of the low "salt" formulation or salt substitute is potassium chloride or sodium iodide.
For example, "a sodium-free yet saline tasting composition of matter" is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,566. Potassium chloride contributes about seventy percent by weight of the compositions described in particular examples of this patent, although the claimed composition can comprise from about forty to about ninety parts potassium chloride. Calcium ascorbate is only a minor constituent of the compositions disclosed in this patent. Language reciting a limitation of "from about four to about fifteen parts" of ascorbate (either as calcium ascorbate or as free ascorbic acid) appears as a specific element of the claims of this patent. Such a high proportion of potassium chloride, such as that disclosed in this patent, renders the resulting composition inherently susceptible to the bitter after taste of potassium chloride.
Vitamin C and its salts, including calcium ascorbate, are, of course, quite old in the art and have been utilized most commonly as stabilizers or preservatives, as well as in vitamin supplements. Vitamin C has also been the subject of inventions relating to various granulation methods. For instance, Canadian Patent Number 846,155 discloses a method of granulating ascorbic acid with an alkali metal chloride. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,310 discloses granulation products of calcium ascorbate which also contains a number of solid organic acids, including citric acid and ascorbic acid. The pH of the granulated product of this patent is preferably in the range of 5.5 to 7.0, and the product, thus, is described as being "prevented from being colored."
There, thus, remains a need for a dietary low "salt" substitute that possesses substantially all the desirable olfactory characteristics of conventional table salt, while significantly lowering the intake of sodium chloride. The discovery of such a palatable composition that is, in addition, able to provide nutritional amounts of calcium and Vitamin C would be a significant achievement.